The Psychology Department promotes critical thinking by way of undergraduate research. We encourage students to design manageable and challenging research projects that, with supervision, can be completed by students and result in a product. By taking advantage of these opportunities, students get:

Hands-on research experience in psychology.

The opportunity to taste the thrill of discovery.

Credit towards their degree requirements.

The opportunity to help generate knowledge and disseminate it to professionals in the field by giving presentations at conferences.

The opportunity to work as part of a team that includes faculty and other students.

Title: The Effects of Eye Closure on the Amount and Accuracy of Recall

Author: Taylor Warner

Eyewitness testimony and accuracy of recall are topics of considerable interest to cognitive psychologists and have obvious implications for the criminal justice system. Accordingly, identifying ways to improve eyewitness recall is important. Wagstaff, & Moore, Cleveland, Newcombe, and Brown (2008) found that instructing witnesses to close their eyes during recall increased accuracy without increasing incorrect responses. This finding held across variations in study material, including video and live interaction, and across type of recall for visual and auditory information. An explanation for this can be found in the work of Vredeveldt, Hitch, and Baddeley (2011), who argued that recall. The purpose of the current research was to examine the eye closure reduces cognitive load and minimizes distraction, which improves effect of eye closure on recall within a signal detection model, specifically when false alarms and misses, which in this case would be incorrect recall, result in loss of an extra credit opportunity. Eighty undergraduates at a small, liberal arts university were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and all asked to complete several math problems. While working on these problems, a confederate entered the room to retrieve an item and left after one minute. After ten minutes, participants in the first and second condition , were asked to stop working on the math problems and freely recall as much information about the confederate as possible with eyes open, and told that an extra-credit opportunity required accurate recall, and eyes closed and told that an extra-credit opportunity required accurate recall, respectively. Participants in the third and fourth condition, were cued to recall information about the confederate under the same circumstances described for the first two conditions. Analyses of variance showed that the effect of instructed eye-closure is not only general; it is significant within the free-recall conditions, however, participants in the cued-recall condition showed no significant differences. This research will provide insight into the conditions under which people recall information most accurately.

The mental and physical health of individuals in helping professions compared to those in non-helping professions has received considerable research attention. For example, Villani, Grassi, Cognetta, Toniolo, Cipresso, and Riva (2013) identified nursing as one of the most stressful helping professions and investigated the coping strategies nurses used for stress and the conditions under which nurses initiated mental health care. In addition, Newsome, Waldo, and Gruszka (2012), also, recognized strain associated with helping professions and explored ways to encourage self-compassion and prevent stress among undergraduates planning to enter this type of work. But less research aimed at identifying differences in people who plan to work in helping professions and those who do not has been conducted. The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not differences in wellness, anxiety, depression, and coping strategies exist between these two groups before entering their professions. In addition, the researcher explored how comfortable participants from these groups were in recognizing signs of emotional distress in themselves and then accessing mental healthcare. Thirty-eight undergraduates planning to enter helping professions, including nursing, social work, and psychology, and thirty-eight undergraduates planning to enter non-helping professions, such as business, chemistry, and graphic design, participated in this study. Each participant completed the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1959), the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997), the Beck Depression Inventory, (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), and the Wellness Assessment Tool (Murphy & Moller, 1997). Results showed that when comparing the helping professions to the non-helping professions in wellness and depression, anxiety and wellness and depression and coping, correlations were generally the same; however, when comparing the helping professions to non-helping professions in coping and anxiety, depression and anxiety and coping and wellness, the correlations were quite different. The results showed a positive correlation between coping and anxiety for participants planning to enter helping professions (r = .513) and those entering non-helping professions (r = .089). The results also showed positive correlations between depression and anxiety scales for those entering helping professions (r = .586) and for those entering the non-helping professions (r = .734). The results showed a positive correlation between coping and wellness scales for those entering helping professions (r = .586) and those entering non-helping professions (r = .393).

Title: The Effect of Video Game Play on a Spatial Span Task for Athletes and Non-Athletes

Author: Carlos Mora

Much research has been aimed at the effect of video game play on sensory, perceptual, and spatial abilities (Spence & Feng, 2010). For example, Okagaki and Frensch (1994) found that playing Tetris improves mental rotation time and spatial visualization time. Other research Basak, Boot, Voss, & Kramer, 2008) showed that training in a real-time strategy video game attenuated cognitive decline in older adults. Older adults were trained in a real-time strategy video game for a day in an attempt to better their executive functions and showed significant improvement in measures of game performance and in executive control functions, including working memory, short-term memory, and reasoning. The purpose of the current research was to further examine the impact of video game play looking specifically at the type of video games played and hours spent playing. In addition, researchers wanted to know whether or not spatial abilities were stronger for video-game playing athletes whose sport requires spatial abilities compared to athletes and non-athletes who do not play video games. Twenty student athletes who play video games, twenty student athletes who do not play video games, twenty non-athletes who play video games, and twenty non-athletes who do not play video games completed a survey detailing the number of hours a week the participants spend playing video games, the video games they play, and the sport in which they participate. Then, participants completed a spatial span task on the computer. Analyses of variance were expected to show that athletes who play more video games are significantly better at spatial tasks than all other participants; however, no significant differences were found. In additions, comparisons between athletes who do not play video games and non-athletes who do play video games were expected to perform similarly and better than non-athletes who do not play video games. These differences were not observed. This research will help us better understand individual variables, such as participation in sports, and their relationship to cognitive tasks involving spatial ability.

Title: Differences Between Men and Women in the Retrieval of Emotional Content Author: Kathi Abler

According to recent research, females have a better memory for emotional events than men. To test this, 20 females and 20 males were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition, ten males and ten females saw a list of words randomly presented on a computer screen. Some of the words were marked for high emotional content and others were marked for low and no emotional content.

Participants were asked to recall as much from the word list as possible. They were then asked to recall the material 48 hours after the start of the experiment. Delayed recall is an important factor because it may show significant differences in amount and type of content males and females remember over a period of time.

The second group of ten males and ten females watched nine, three-minute video clips that varied in emotional content and were randomly ordered. Three of the films were marked for high emotional content, three for low emotional content, and three for emotionally neutral content. The participants were again asked to recall immediately as much content as possible.

The participants were asked to come back 48 hours later to recall the content again. Analyses of variance revealed that within both the word list and the video condition, women remembered more content flagged for high emotional and over longer periods of time. Memory for visual material was greater for both males and females than memory for written words.

Title: The Influence of Caffeine and Suggestion on Reaction Time TasksAuthor: Dustin Feenstra

Research indicates moderate caffeine consumption may increase performance on problem-solving tasks. This increase typically occurs from low to moderate doses (50-200mg). But suggestion regarding effects of caffeine (e.g., increased alertness, quickness, and heightened attention) may contribute to the observed increase as much as physiological effects.

To test this, 60 participants, agreeable to caffeine consumption and previously surveyed for heart problems, drug sensitivities, ulcers, allergies, and other conditions, the symptoms of which may be amplified by caffeine, were randomly .assigned to one of four conditions in which participants were asked to complete reaction-time experiments after receiving, or not receiving, caffeine.

In the first condition, participants expected to receive caffeine and were told that it may cause quicker reaction times, increased attention, and heightened alertness. These participants received 100 mg of caffeine.

In the second condition, participants were informed of caffeine's effects and were told they would receive 100 mg of caffeine. In fact, these participants received a non-caffeinated substance.

In the third condition, participants expected and received caffeine with no suggestion regarding caffeine's psychological effects. In the fourth condition, participants expected and received no caffeine and no suggestion regarding the effects of caffeine. Increased performance resulted not entirely from caffeine's physiological effects but, in part, from suggestion.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects, if any, that positive and negative mental imagery have on an individual's perceived self-efficacy and the subsequent performance of a closed motor skill. The experiment involved 28 undergraduate students from a small, private, liberal arts institution located in the Midwestern United States.

Five groups were taken through ten experimental sessions, over a two-week period, in which they performed their respective duties. These duties consisted of a positive imagery and physical practice group (PIP), a negative imagery and physical practice group (NIP), a physical practice group (P), a positive imagery only group (PI), and a negative imagery only group (NI). Each group was administered the General Perceived Self-Efficacy test (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1993) during a pre-test and post-test session.

The imagery sessions were conducted using written positive and negative scripts that included a short relaxation piece followed by the actual imagery script. Putting a golf ball from six feet was the closed motor skill that the participants performed. Each of these five particular groups was chosen to isolate exactly where progression and/or digression were made.

The results of our investigation did not support our hypothesis and showed that a combination of positive imagery and physical practice would prove to be most beneficial in improved mastery of a close motor skill. It did show that positive mental imagery slightly improved self-efficacy from pre-test to post-test. These results did not support previous research but may facilitate future research on positive and negative mental imagery.

Title: The Effect of Human-Animal Interaction on Nursing Home Residents' Well Being Author: Carrie Peterson

The aging of "baby boomers" in the United States has led to an expansion in programs that address needs and concerns regarding quality of life among the elderly (Kei1, 1998). In response, this study investigated the relationship between non-human animals and increased quality of life in the elderly.

Studies from many different disciplines have focused on the effects of companion animals on the well being of people. The presence of pets has been linked to lower blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety, as well as enhanced social environments and decreased depression and loneliness (Wilson, 1998).

Observations, questionnaires and health records helped determine whether a positive relationship exists between human-animal interactions and quality of life of nursing home residents. Sessions were held three days a week for one-hour periods over four weeks. Two assistants facilitated interaction between participants and animals so that the researcher could record observations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

Participants in Group A interacted with two dogs in a group setting. Participants in Group B, the control condition, did not interact with the animals. The Geriatric Depression Scale was used before any sessions began and, again, after all sessions were completed to determine any changes in the participants' quality of life. Each participant's blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature was recorded before and after each session to determine any effects on physical health.

Results showed a positive correlation between human-animal interactions and an increased quality of life in nursing home residents, but evidence was not strong enough to be conclusive.

Because there is such a high incidence of depression and loneliness among the elderly, researching new methods of easing these complaints has obvious benefits. The implications of studies such as this would greatly assist long-term care and assisted living facilities as well as the elderly population in general.

The purpose of the current research is to examine how temperature affects ability to recall information. Previous research (Allen & Fischer, 1978) indicates learning and recall are best at 72 Phi and decline at lower and higher temperatures; however, research did not indicate whether material encoded at lower and higher temperatures may be as accurately recalled, after a delay, if temperature at recall matches temperature at encoding. This idea is the subject of the current experiment.

Seventy-five participants were randomly divided into five groups. Groups were classified according to the temperature of encoding and recognition environments. Environments consisted of cold, normal, or hot temperatures rated (52, 72, or 92 degrees respectively).

Participants in group one encoded information in a cold room and recalled it in a cold room, and participants in group two encoded information in a cold room and recalled it in a hot room. Participants in group three encoded information in a hot room and recalled it in a hot room, and participants in group four encoded information in a hot room and recalled in a cold room. Participants in group five, the control condition, encoded and recalled at normal temperatures.

Individuals wore similar clothing and were in the laboratory ten minutes prior to encoding and recall task to ensure adjustment to the room's temperature. Participants in each group were presented with a list of 60 words for future recall. Twenty words were related to the word cold, 20 were related to hot, and 20 were unrelated to temperature. After a 24-hour period, participants returned and were presented with a recall task in the assigned room.

It was expected that words will be more accurately recalled in the same temperature in which they were encoded. State-dependent learning supports this idea. It was also expected that words related to the temperature in which they were encoded would be remembered more accurately than words not related to the encoding temperature. Results supported these hypotheses.

Implications for this research include improving classroom environments so as to maximize learning. Other experiments may explore the possibility that other physiological factors contribute to the accuracy with which we remember information.

Erica and Paula conducted an experiment to determine whether or not essential oils affected test-taking anxiety. Participants were subjected to one of four different scents (two relaxants, two stimulants) and assigned a pop quiz. Tests scores and change in heart rate were calculated.

An ANOVA revealed a significant difference between the control and geranium, a relaxant. Significant differences between stimulants and relaxants were observed for change in heart rate. A Tukey test revealed significant differences for test scores between all groups except control and chamomile, a relaxant, and basil and rosemary, stimulants. A Tukey test revealed significant differences between rosemary and chamomile and basil and chamomile for change in heart rate.

Results indicated that the use of aromatherapy has physiological and psychological effects on students in a testing-taking situation. It is suggested that aromatherapy may be used as an effective coping technique for those that experience test-taking anxiety.

Dakota Wesleyan University was named to the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This designation is the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

Dakota Wesleyan University is proudly affiliated with the Dakotas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Members of any and all faiths are welcome and encouraged to experience an education based on learning, leadership, faith and service.

Dakota Wesleyan University has been honored as a College of Distinction through demonstration of excellence in these areas: engaged students, great teaching, vibrant communities and successful outcomes.

The Chronicle of Higher Education named Dakota Wesleyan University one of the “Great Colleges to Work For®” for 2014-2015. DWU won honors in three categories: facilities, workspace and security, and supervisor/department chair relationship.